The University of Florida’s Malachowsky Hall for Data Science and Information Technology in Gainesville, Florida, features more than 170,000 square feet of exterior cold-formed steel (CFS) non-bearing panels. The key partners — specialty engineering firm McClure, panel fabricator Kenpat and steel panel installer N-RG Cladding — collaborated closely to build the eight-story facility.

The partners coordinated the design and construction of a fully prefabricated CFS non-bearing panels. The system integrates 3D volumetric modular cladding panels with CFS wall panels. The team secured the panels to the concrete-reinforced main structure. Using only a few strategically placed, high-capacity connections helped speed the installation.

The Cold-Formed Steel Engineers Institute (CFSEI) presented the project with First Place — Municipal in the 2025 CFSEI Design Excellence Awards. Lauren Gutknecht of McClure submitted the entry.

McClure designed and detailed the exterior prefabricated CFS panels and 3-D volumetric aluminum façade panels.

The specialty engineering firm created prefabricated panel details allowing each installation to “drop in” seamlessly to the previous, accelerating installation and reducing field labor. The firm also created multistory prefabricated panels. Each panel had connections only to the ‘jamb’ element. Since the building has stepping panel locations, this required coordinating the CFS vertical and horizontal movement joints.

To validate design assumptions before full-scale implementation, the engineers developed a standalone CFS mockup. The mockup included a cantilevered soffit. McClure also designed identical jamb and beam system for each panel. The design allowed crews to swap the window modules and wall modules, ensuring efficient and redundant construction.

For installation, the McClure team produced color- and symbol-coordinated drawings that conveyed attachment locations and illustrated how panels interacted with one another. This descriptive system enabled McClure to efficiently coordinate 22 uniquely engineered and attached panel layouts during installation.

Finally, the engineers designed the aluminum cladding and its coordinated attachment to the perimeters and opening framing of the CFS panel system. Crews used preinstalled lock-in rails on each panel’s jamb members to quickly drop in the aluminum cladding panels for a finished exterior. These concentrated forces transferred directly to the jambs and window framing.

Thus, the engineers had to carefully coordinate the CFS system to carry the loads. This design prevented engineers from having to design the typical wall framing for wind pressures.

The project’s modular approach enabled rapid installation, minimized field joints and delivered a watertight enclosure.

The McClure engineers designed large multi-story panels as full-height assemblies to limit joints and expedite construction. Each panel’s primary load-carrying jamb members attached to the structure at eight feet on center with horizontal box headers spanning between jambs.

A highly adaptable “wall module” system allowed standardized interior wall modules to be swapped for opening modules wherever needed. By keeping the jambs and header framing consistent both openings and solid wall sections could be mass-produced and interchanged, ensuring repeatability of detailing.

An engineered hoisting system with mid-span pick points lifted the panels into place and safely rotated them vertically. Crews secured the panels with high-capacity seismic bypass clips from SFIA member Simpson Strong-Tie. They fastened the clips to Hilti anchor channels, which were cast into the concrete. With jamb and header systems incorporated across all panels — including solid wall segments — connections to the structure were limited to eight feet on center, accelerating installation. McClure used BIM to align the high-strength panel connections with the anchors. Each multi-story panel required only four high-capacity clips. This significantly reduced the number of attachments.

The team coordinated the prefabricated aluminum cladding system with the CFS framework. Preinstalled lock-in rails on each panel’s jamb members allowed cladding panels to be quickly dropped in completing the finished exterior. The design transferred these concentrated forces directly to the CFS system, preventing the typical wall framing from needing wind-pressure design.

The University of Florida’s Malachowsky Hall for Data Science and Information Technology exemplifies McClure’s commitment to innovation in cold-formed steel design. By incorporating modular prefabrication, standardized components and high-capacity connections, the team delivered an advanced building envelope.

Close coordination across engineering, CFS wall panels, cladding systems and cast-in-place anchors minimized construction issues. Crews installed additional anchors on a few panels due to misalignment and made trim angle adjustments on corner panels. This project is a testament to fulfilling complex architectural visions through the precision and efficiency of prefabricated construction.

Read the complete story about the cold-formed steel non-bearing panels and obtain the complete design diagrams for McClure’s 2025 CFSEI Design Excellence — First Place — Municipal Award.